Display device



p 8 R. E. TABER I 2,852,143

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed Sept. 5, 1956 INVENTOR. Fusssu E. Free- BY wrw ATTORNEYS United States Patent DISPLAY DEVICE Russell E. Taber, Mariemont, Ohio Application September 5, 1956, Serial No. 608,078

4 Claims. (Cl. 21149) This invention relates to a display device and more particularly to a device for the display of stacked goods or merchandise, particularly where the articles to be displayed are such that when stacked upon each other the stack is relatively unstable.

While the device of the present invention is useful for the display of innumerable types of merchandise of various shapes and sizes, it is particularly useful for and has been described particularly in connection with the display of soft drinks in paperboard carriers.

In recent years soft drinks have been packaged in paperboard carriers, six bottles to the carrier, this being a conventional quantity to purchase and to carry. Generally such carriers have a complete bottom but the bottles are exposed at the top and are subject to a certain amount of freedom within their carrier so that when another carrier is stacked on a first carrier, the stack is not too stable.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a display device having features which will provide for a more stable stack of articles being displayed where such articles normally do not form a stable stack.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a display device for the merchandising and display of bottles in carriers.

It is another object of the invention to provide for each layer of articles in the stack a sheet-like cover element which serves as a supporting element for articles in the next higher layer. In connection with this last named object, it is an ancillary object to provide a sheet-like member which will automatically retract when no more articles are supported thereupon, so as to uncover the articles in the next lower layer.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a sheet-like member in sections whereby it is not necessary for all the articles in any one layer to be removed in order to expose the next lower layer.

These and other objects of my invention which I shall describe in greater detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, I accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which I shall now describe an exemplary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a display device according to my invention with a number of bottle carriers displayed therein.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure l on an enlarged scale.

Briefly, in the practice of my invention, I provide a display device having a base of such length as to accommodate a desired number of articles to be stacked in sideby-side abutting relationship and of a width to accommodate a desired number of rows of such articles. Thus, for example as shown in Figure 1, the particular display rack may be of a length to accommodate six carriers and maybe of a Width to accommodate four rows of carriers.

Patented Sept. 16, 1958 It may be of any desired height and, as shown in Figure 1, it may be of a height to accommodate six layers of carriers. The particular configuration of the base, sides and rear wall do not constitute an element of the invention. The appearance of the device may be altered to suit the individual taste. The base is indicated at 10 and a rear wall at 11. Fragmentary Side walls may be provided as at 12 if desired.

In order to provide for a more stable stack, I provide flexible resilient sheet-like elements which are secured to the rear wall 11 and which may be pulled out to overlie the articles in one layer and to support articles in a next higher layer. It will be understood that the flexible elements or means referred to may be continuous along the rear wall 11, so that a single sheet will cover an entire layer or it may be sectionalized as shown in Figure 1, where I have indicated for each layer two sheet-like members 13. These sheet-like members are of a suitable material haVing a permanent coil set such that it may be unrolled from the rear wall to which it is secured and held in unrolled position by the weight of articles stacked thereon, but such that it will automatically roll up again when all articles stacked thereon have been removed.

The members 13 are secured to the rear wall 11 as by means of a clamping strip 14 held in place by screws 15.

It will be observed that the members 13 covering the bottom layer of carriers have been unrolled as at 13a. They cover the bottles in the carriers of the bottom layer indicated at '20. A second layer of bottle carriers at 21 rests on the members 13 and holds the members 13 in unrolled condition at 13b.

In the third layer, I have shown a series of carriers 22 which are only three rows forwardly from the rear wall and it will be seen that the members 13 which overlie the carriers 21 and underlie the carriers 22 are partially rolled up as indicated at 13b, so that the front row in the layer 21 is exposed.

On top of the layer of carriers 22, -I have shown another partial layer of carriers 23 which extends only two rows forwardly from the rear wall 11 and it will be observed that the member 13 is still further rolled up as indicated at 13c. 7

'It will be noted that in the layer of carriers 23 only one-half the width of the device is occupied, so that the member 13 upon which no articles are supported has rolled up all the Way as indicated at 13d. The uppermost two sheets of members 13 are also completely rolled up because no articles are stacked on top of them.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that generally speaking the uppermost article in any row or layer is exposed to view. As soon as the three foremost carriers in any top layer are removed, the member 13 rolls up to expose the three carriers in the next row below.

It will of course be understood that the members 13 could be of a width to cover only two carriers so that there would be three members 13 for each layer, or they could be of a width to cover only a single carrier, in which case there would be six such members for each layer.

The members 13 may be of any suitable material which may be given a permanent coil set. I have used with success a polyester film manufactured by the du Pont Company under the trademark Mylar. This is a clear plastic sheet having a thickness of .0075 inch and having a melting point between 250 and 255 C. This material may be bought in sheets, cut to the desired size, rolled up, and then heated up to a point near the melting point while held in coiled condition. When the material cools off, it has taken a permanent coil set so that it may be unrolled but will roll up as soon as it is released. The

3 same result could, of course, be accomplished with spring steel inserts or the like.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention and I therefore do not intend to limit myself except as set forth in the claims which follow.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure 'by Letters Patent is:

l. A display device for articles adapted to be stacked in layers of a number of rows each, said articles in stacked condition presenting a normally unstable structure; said device comprising a base and a rear wall, said base being of a length and width to accommodate a desired number of rows of a desired number of such articles, said rear wall being of a height substantially equal to a desired number of layers of said articles, and self-coiling flexible means secured to said rear wall at the top of each layer of said articles and extensible to cover a layer therebeneath and to support a next higher layer of said articles, whereby said flexible means retracts as the supported layer of articles is depleted.

2. A structure according to claim 1, wherein said flexible means for each layer is constituted by a number of sections, whereby an individual section may retract when the articles supported thereon are depleted while other articles supported on other sections in the same layer are still displayed.

3. A structure according to claim 1, wherein said flexible means comprises a sheet of material having a permanent coil set, such that it may be unrolled from said rear Wall forwardly and held in unrolled condition by the weight of articles supported thereon, but will roll up automatically to the extent permitted by the removal of supported articles therefrom.

4. A structure according to claim 1, wherein said flexible means for each layer is constituted by a number of sections, whereby an individual section may retract when the articles supported thereon are depleted while other articles supported on other sections in the same layer are still displayed, each said flexible means comprising a sheet of material having a permanent coil set, such that it may be iunrolled from said rear wall forwardly and held in unrolled condition by the weight of articles supported thereon, but will roll up automatically to the extent pcrmitted by the removal of supported articles therefrom.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 717,247 McCaskey Dec, 30, 1902 2,344,511 Harder Mar. 21, 1944 2,354,744 Dreyfus Aug. 1, 1944 2,431,752 Hilstrom Dec. 2, 1947 2,551,974 Schweikert May 8, 1951 2,637,445 Patterson May 5, 1953 2,775,352 Waite Dec. 25, 1956 

